49ers Close Out Regular Season
Important Games Vs. UCLA & UCI On Tap
November 13, 2006 | Overall Record: 9-14 | | MPSF Record: 1-5 | | National Ranking: #12 | | This Week's Action | November 17 at UCLA, 3 pm
November 18 vs. UC Irvine, 12 pm, Campus Pool |
The Records: The 49er men's water polo team heads into the week at 9-14 overall and 1-5 in the MPSF. Last Friday the 49ers defeated Loyola Marymount 9-7 in a non-conference game at the Campus Pool. This week the 49ers end their regular season at UCLA (Nov. 17) and at home against UC Irvine (Nov. 18). UCLA heads into the week at 13-5 overall and 4-2 in the MPSF while UCI is 10-16 overall and 2-4 in the MPSF. At stake is a spot in the MPSF Tournament. The 49ers and Pepperdine currently have just one MPSF win.
National Ranking: The 49ers head into this week ranked No. 12 in the country.
The Series: The 49ers trail in their series with UCLA by a 61-19 count. The Bruins defeated the 49ers 6-4 on October 14 at the SoCal Tournament. Long Beach trails in its series with UC Irvine 65-21. The Anteaters defeated the 49ers 12-11 in overtime at UCI on November 2 in a non-conference game.
The Coach: Gavin Arroyo (California ‘94) is 9-14 (.391) in his first year as the head coach at Long Beach State. Arroyo spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Cal and was an eight-year member of the U.S. National Team (1993-2000), competing in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.
49ers Defeat LMU: Junior Clint Wilson scored a career-high four goals to lift Long Beach State to a 9-7 win over LMU on Friday afternoon. Jeff Greenwood added two goals and Steve MacKenzie had eight goalie saves. The 49ers scored four consecutive goals to take a 4-1 lead mid-way through the first quarter. LMU came back with three goals of its own before Long Beach ended the quarter on a goal by Wilson to take a 5-4 lead. From there on out, it turned into a defensive battle. With the score tied 6-6 in the third quarter, Long Beach took the lead for good on a goal by Justin Koeppen at 3:07. The lead grew to 8-6 after Wilson's fourth goal of the day at 5:53 in the fourth.
So Close: Five of the 49ers 14 losses this season have been by just one goal and three more have been by two goals. The latest one-goal loss was this past Thursday as the 49ers fell at UC Irvine 12-11 in overtime.
Home Stretch: The 49ers are heading into the home stretch for the 2006 season. With just two games remaining before the MPSF Tournament begins, the 49ers are vying for a spot in the league tournament. With nine teams in the conference, only the top eight advance. The 49ers are 1-5 in league play. Pepperdine has just one league win as well and the 49ers own a victory over the Waves. UCI has two wins, having defeated Pepperdine and Stanford. Long Beach hosts UC Irvine in its regular season finale on November 18 at the Campus Pool.
Jay Gerardi: Senior All-American Jay Gerardi (Long Beach) sat out the LMU game to rest his sore shoulder, but will be ready for the final week of the regular season. Gerardi scored a career-high tying five goals in the 49ers 12-11 win over Pepperdine. Gerardi has scored five goals three times this season, also accomplishing the feat on October 7 vs. Pepperdine and UC Davis. Gerardi has 142 career goals and is currently tied for No. 9 all-time at Long Beach State with Scott Weir (1976-78). Gerardi leads the team with 43 goals this season. Last season he tallied a personal-best 61 goals as he earned honorable mention All-America honors. Gerardi has scored at least one goal in 20 of the 22 games this season. Gerardi has 10 multiple-goal outings this season.
Clint Wilson: Junior Clint Wilson (Long Beach) scored a career-best four goals in last Friday's 9-7 win over No. 6-ranked Loyola Marymount. Wilson is fourth on the team with 23 goals this season and has started in all 23 games. His previous high for goals in a game was two, which he accomplished this season against Pacific, UC Irvine and in the first meeting with LMU. Wilson has scored a goal in17 of the 23 games this season. Wilson appeared in 22 games last season in a reserve role and finished with two goals on the year. Heading into this season he has scored five goals in 34 total games.
Jeff Greenwood: Redshirt freshman Jeff Greenwood (Whittier) scored the game-winner against Pepperdine, finding the back of the net with 4:25 left to play. This past Friday he tallied two goals in the win over LMU. Greenwood tallied a career-high tying five goals in that 12-11 victory. Greenwood is second on the team with 40 goals this year. Greenwood, the MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week on October 2, has scored in 18 of the 23 games this season, but in 12 of those contests he has scored two or more goals. He scored five goals in the win over Pomona-Pitzer on September 30.
Kevin Bradley: Senior Kevin Bradley (Long Beach) has been a steady force for the 49ers all season. Bradley is fifth on the team with 18 goals this year. He has played in all 23 games, starting twice. Last season he played in 35 games, recording 12 goals on the year. Bradley has scored in 13 of the 23 games. He has scored two goals in a game five times this season.
Steve MacKenzie: Junior Steve MacKenzie (Walnut Creek) Recorded eight goalie saves in the win over LMU. After allowing four goals in the first quarter to the Lions, he allowed just three the final three quarters of the contest. In the win over Pepperdine he limited the Waves to just three second half tallies and he recorded seven of his 12 saves in the second half. MacKenzie is currently averaging 9.05 saves per game and he has a 9.32 GAA. His 199 saves this season ranks No. 15 all-time at Long Beach State. The weekend of October 28-29 he recorded a total of 31 saves (10.33 saves per game) in three outings, including a career-best 14 saves at Stanford. MacKenzie has 10 games this season where he has recorded double digits in saves.
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2006 Roster
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